Day Out with Thomas at The Orange Empire Railway Museum

I have a little boy that is absolutely bonkers about trains. He has every kind of train imaginable at home and he loves just watching freight or commuter trains go by. He’s had a Thomas the Train birthday party two years in a row. He is a complete Thomas the Train fan!

If you have a Thomas the Train fan at home, you do not want to miss out on this event!! Day Out with Thomas is coming to the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris. Day out with Thomas allows kiddos and grownups to interact with their favorite character. You will be able to take a 25 minute ride with a full size Thomas the Tank engine, there will also be storytelling, meet and greet your favorite Thomas the Train characters, live entertainment and more. Plus the Orange Empire Railway Museum is a train enthusiast’s dream! We wrote about our experience here.

It promises to be a super fun day and would make a great birthday or special day out.

Day Out with Thomas comes to The Orange Empire Railway Museum on November 5th, 6th, 11th, 12th and 13th.

To learn more about the event and how you can purchase tickets head here.

Cirque du Soleil Iris

Credit: Cirque du Soleil

Last week I had the opportunity to watch Cirque du Soleil new show “Iris,” at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood.

I have seen most the permanent Cirque shows in Vegas and several of the touring productions. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this is the best production they’ve done to date.

The show features many staples of a Cirque du Soliel show, like contortionists, acrobats and clowns. It also features a twin brother aerial act that is like nothing you’ve ever seen before.

Iris features wall to wall eye candy. Indeed, it uses all parts of the theater for the show. The live orchestra is spread out over several of the box seats. The set stretches from top to bottom of the stage. The creative use of live action with pre-filmed sequences was also amazing to watch. I brought my hubby who was thrilled by the sound track, which was written by Danny Elfman of Oingo Boingo and Nightmare Before Christmas fame.

It’s perfect for older kids/teens and would make the best date night or girls night out! The show will be a permanent show at The Kodak Theater for the next couple of years.

Tickets start at $43 . To learn more about the show head here.

Disclosure:This is not a compensated post. I did receive tickets to facilitate a review.

Real Seal of Appeal! Contest for Southern California Schools

Our local schools are hurting more than ever before. I didn’t really understand this until this year, when I walked my daughter to her first day of first grade and realized that she was in a class of 33 students. Due to budget cuts classes are getting bigger, there is no room for extras and the kiddos are losing out on art and music programs.

The California Milk Advisory Board wants to do something about this current crisis in education and will be giving away more than $2 million dollars to local elementary schools in the Southern California area. Real California Milk is supporting California schools by launching the Real Seal Appeal! sweepstakes. All you have to do to participate is collect Real California Milk Seals and turn them in to your teacher/school.

The contest will run from now until December 31st, 2011. This is a great and easy way to get money to schools that so desperately need it! Plus the top 3 schools with the most seals collected will win $20,000, $10,000 and $5,000 and 2,595 other schools will be awarded $500! Every penny counts and I know this could help many schools!

To learn more about the contest head over to the Scholastic Real Seal Appeal! Sweepstakes head over here.You can also check out RealCaliforniaMilk.com , follow them on Twitter or check them out on Facebook.